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2017/05/08

In the SimpleUploads plugin, one of the features is to provide a way for the users to add files to their content by simply dragging them from their desktop. Of course, there might be more than one editor on the page and so the files are accepted only when they are dropped on an editor.

But there's a little problem: if the user drops the file outside the editor they may lose their current content because that image is loaded instead (yes, you can use autosave and also prompt them with onBeforeUnload), so in order to prevent data loss or the delay and surprise about having to go back and restore last saved draft, I implemented a little check that rejects any file that it's dropped outside the editor.

So does this fix all the problems? Not of course!
If you want to provide support to drag&drop in other part of the page, I'm preventing that script to work but the solution is simple:

In the configuration of your CKEditor, add this extra setting:
simpleuploads_allowDropOutside = true;

That's all. If the that setting exists I won't touch anything outside the editor and you can keep working as usual.

2017/05/05

Ok, after clearing that up, let's talk about what's Windows S and why it has a positive value (but maybe not for you).

Windows has been tied forever with back-compatibility, support for all the legacy apps and APIs that people have been using almost since Win95.

Every API is an additional support burden and a potential attack vector, and so we find that despite all the years, code review, tests and whatever, new bugs always popup.

So, is it really strange that Microsoft would like to close the attack surface as much as possible by allowing access only to a very limited API that removes low level calls and the ability to run any program that you get from any source?

Obviously they can't do it that for most of the people right now because most of the apps use the Win32 API and so the people at their homes would reject outright to even test that Windows if they know that it won't run some app that they use.

But on the other hand, there's a lot of people quite happy with their iPads and Chromebooks that doesn't run any Windows app at all and they boast how great they are because they don't get virus or malware there, and system administrators at school check the landscape and see one set of computers that are full Windows with all the extra maintenance that they might require and at the other side this restricted versions where everything is locked down, they control what's there and they know that the device won't run the traditional malware that it's sent in emails or injected through an evil ad.

They are the target of this Windows S, cheap computers that can be managed easily and can run any UWP or Win32 apps distributed through the Windows Store.

We know that most of the apps that people use aren't in the Store, but this might be the kind of incentive (a whole set of new computers sold to schools by the thousands) to port those apps to UWP and little by little people might found there more and more apps, and so in the future it might be possible for Microsoft to enable an optional lock down of every Windows computer so only approved apps are run there and everyone (except antivirus vendors) will be happy knowing that their computers are safer that way.

Microsoft currently has to fight an uphill battle to be relevant 5-10 years from now. Most of the people now browse mostly from their phones and tablets and they have lost this first battle to have a mobile OS that people use, and if they give up completely they might end up with a very marginal part of the whole OS.

So it really makes sense for them to do bold moves like this one and with the current set of existing frameworks to provide cross-platform solutions (Cordova, Electron, React Native, ...) then it wouldn't be surprising to find out that the ones that still aren't able to target UWP get proper support and everybody wins this way.

2017/05/02

I like to read about the topic of web performance, try to understand how things work and what are the correct patterns to use or avoid on the web. This means that I try to focus on using optimized javascript and css, don't include huge libraries and dead code that it isn't used.

But on the other hand it's clear that there are lots of CMS like WordPress, and shops like PrestaShop, both provide support for themes, so designers use Photoshop, slice that up, and generate a ton of Javascript and CSS by picking all the libraries, components and whatever they need.

There's no worry about file size, page performance or anything like that, it's just a matter of make it look nice, not make it look nice and work in an optimized way. And people prefer a nice looking site even if it takes slightly longer to load that one that has no design or is using outdated styles.

Recently I looked at some page templates trying to find a nice looking one for a NGO, and after reviewing several ones, I thought that I had found a good one, but my heart felt when I found that it was created by mixing several css files that are loaded on demand and all the responsiveness is achieved with javascript that modifies the DOM and changes the css files loaded according to the resize of the window. Yes, not even a single media query rule, all done with javascript.

So I threw it all away, started with a clean page and I was able to create my "design" mixing things from here and there, starting with a mobile-first approach for the first time and the outcome is a simple page with the required styles and scripts that I can keep on improving, a fraction of the size of any of those designs that I looked at.

Obviously the drawback is that in order to do this I had to spent my time, so it's easy to understand why for many sites the answer is to use those kind of themes. It's just a matter of finding the one that you like, pay for it once and you're ready to go, but it would be great if the pages hosting themes could provide some help to highlight themes with good performance and correct use of the new technologies.